UKC

Amount of gear on harnesses indoor walls?

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
 zimpara 27 Jul 2016
What is the most amount of gear generally acceptable to find on a harness at an indoor wall? Often see prussiks, the odd spare belay device. Have seen gloves too... big chunky f*ckers, paired with a classic ATC. See the correlation?
Anything else wierd and wonderful?
14
 ChrisH89 27 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

Prussiks and sometimes slings are needed for any kind of rescue (not that you should need to be doing that in a wall with qualified staff but explains why instructors and staff will carry them). More relevant to most people is that prussiks are really useful for replacing the bottom ropes in walls with shared lead/bottom rope walls that have a single anchor point at the top.
4
 MeMeMe 27 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

People often just have prussiks on their harness all the time rather than take them off and forget to put them back on when they might need them.
And what's wrong with gloves? Some people prefer to belay wearing gloves, it's not a bad idea.

Personally I dislike climbing indoors with stuff hanging off my harness so I ditch my belay device at the base of the route but I can see why people might have the odd thing on there.
1
 tehmarks 27 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

Prusiks and belay device never come off of my harness, ever. Anything else indoors gets removed - I'm a big fan of minimal clutter, you tend to look like a bit of a twerp leading indoors with a nut key!
4
 JayPee630 27 Jul 2016
In reply to tehmarks:

Why not take them off? They're a serious risk if you fall and hit the deck. I climb with an empty harness indoors.
10
 Pids 27 Jul 2016
In reply to JayPee630:

> Why not take them off? They're a serious risk if you fall and hit the deck. I climb with an empty harness indoors.

Surely hitting the deck is a bigger risk?
2
 tehmarks 27 Jul 2016
In reply to JayPee630:

They're occasionally useful, and they'd be a risk hitting the deck outdoors as well as indoors. When it comes to the potential of decking from the start of the route, I tend to look at it on an individual basis. The vast majority of routes will have you falling onto your feet, no issue. If there's a low overhang I might reconsider - but to be honest I'd probably just shift them off my back gear loop rather than leave them on the ground.

I rack my belay device off to the side, so problems there.
1
 climbwhenready 27 Jul 2016
In reply to Pids:

> Surely hitting the deck is a bigger risk?

And forgetting your prusiks when you need them outdoors an even bigger one.
4
 JayPee630 27 Jul 2016
In reply to tehmarks:
You don't need them on your harness on a wall surely? Think Andy Kirkpatrick wrote a good article about injuries from them when falling. And putting them on your hip not any guarentee of being safer. Actually here ya go http://andy-kirkpatrick.com/cragmanship/view/harness_real_estate_the_rear_g...

Yes, the floor is a bigger risk, but why add to the likelihood of your injuries being worse by landing on your belay plate on bottom of your spine or hip?
Post edited at 16:00
5
 tehmarks 27 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

I've read that article before. I've yet to come close to injuring myself falling with gear on my harness, and if I thought it was possible I'd move it somewhere else on my harness. The chances of me landing on my belay device or Prusik krab on my spine, when they're racked off to the side of my harness? Zero I'd say.

I'm a big fan of looking at the individual risks associated with a specific route or situation and planning from there, rather than having blanket rules which are mostly inconvenient for the sake of avoiding a very, very unlikely accident which can only happen in a limited number of situations.

Having a minimum amount of useful kit on me (some way of descending, and some way of attaching myself to something) makes me happy.
3
 JayPee630 27 Jul 2016
In reply to tehmarks:

We are talking about indoor climbing right?

And the chances are not zero, I know of 2 accidents from landing on stuff on harnesses. One broken coccyx and one hip injury. One was fall before clipped in, one fall and bang against wall.

Each to their own, just is safer and since the gear isn't needed why carry it?
3
 tehmarks 27 Jul 2016
In reply to JayPee630:

What I'm trying to say is that it's going to be very difficult to break my coccyx if the gear on my harness is nowhere near my coccyx.
 timjones 27 Jul 2016
In reply to JayPee630:

> We are talking about indoor climbing right?

> And the chances are not zero, I know of 2 accidents from landing on stuff on harnesses. One broken coccyx and one hip injury. One was fall before clipped in, one fall and bang against wall.

> Each to their own, just is safer and since the gear isn't needed why carry it?

Maybe because many people will feel that the faff outweighs the tiny risk?
 andrewmc 28 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

If in 'pretend-instructor' mode helping with the Uni club (although I do have SPA) or similar, then cowstail and sling, grigri and twistlock carabiner, spare belay device and carabiner for teaching, two more twistlock carabiners, 2 prussiks that live on the back of my harness. Not that I would ever do this indoors unless it was an emergency or every member of wall staff suddenly injured themselves, but two spare screwgates and at least one prussik is the minimum you need to easily take over a loaded belay (one to back everything up with a knot/clove hitch, one for the prussik, although it's been a while since I last did it on training). Cowstail is useful for rapidly attaching yourself to things (duh). I once had a belayer holding a climber on a top rope where the belayer's harness split into two parts (the leg loops detached from the belay loop due to incorrect assembly) so they were holding the weight on just the waist loop. I just put the climber on belay as well and took it over, but it has subsequently been pointed out to me I could have just clipped my cowstail into the belay carabiner...

My prussiks live quite happily girth-hitched onto the rear leap of my harness (as already stated, putting anything else there is less than ideal) - why would I ever take them off? The odd spare screwgate is useful for attaching people to sandbags; you might even see me with a quickdraw and a sling or two if I am teaching someone leading! Finally my (trad) cowstail lives on my harness (I have a different one for sport climbing which I don't mind getting scratched up by bolts). I have used it indoors once (cheekily) threading the screwgate at the top of a route that I had lead up and wanted to put a top rope on but the screwgate had seized shut!

You do see people with some really unnecessary stuff on their harness, but prussiks, spare belay device (actually useful indoors!) and gloves are all quite reasonable things to have indoors...
2
 JayPee630 28 Jul 2016
In reply to timjones:

The faf of unclipping one krab from your harness? Or not even having it on at all?
1
 EuanM 28 Jul 2016
An ATC on a krab missed my head by a few inches, falling from a climber about 15-20m above me at Ratho.

I don't see the need to have anything on your harness when climbing indoors.
3
 zv 28 Jul 2016
In reply to EuanM:

Same, I don't see any point in keeping anything on my harness, it just weighs you down and seems to serve no other purpose, please correct me if I am wrong which I may be.
Also random loops do get randomly clipped into karabiners, I even managed to clip my shoe loop into a krab while leading once...
1
 tehmarks 28 Jul 2016
In reply to zmv:

If we're worrying about the tiny risk of accidentally clipping something to your gear loop indoors, how will we ever manage outdoors when we're carrying forty times the number of krabs!?
2
 DancingOnRock 28 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

Enough quickdraws to complete the route. Maybe chalk bag depending on the wall and conditions.



 zv 28 Jul 2016
In reply to tehmarks:

True. However I still can't see the point of carrying anything on your harness indoors unless you are an instructor.
1
 JayPee630 28 Jul 2016
In reply to tehmarks:

We're not worrying, but avoiding risks that are easily avoidable and unnecessary!
1
 timjones 28 Jul 2016
In reply to JayPee630:

> The faf of unclipping one krab from your harness? Or not even having it on at all?

That probably gives you a.good idea of just how low I consider the risk to be.

As for not having it on at all, I tend to be able to find a use for a belay device for around 50% of the time that I spend at the wall
 Tyler 28 Jul 2016
In reply to ChrisH89:

> Prussiks and sometimes slings are needed for any kind of rescue (not that you should need to be doing that in a wall with qualified staff but explains why instructors and staff will carry them). More relevant to most people is that prussiks are really useful for replacing the bottom ropes in walls with shared lead/bottom rope walls that have a single anchor point at the top.

Eh?
1
Andy Gamisou 28 Jul 2016
In reply to Tyler:

> Eh?

Glad it wasn't just me then!
1
 ChrisH89 28 Jul 2016
In reply to Tyler:

Local wall requires lead climbers to pull the top ropes down before leading. Need to replace it when you're done. Single anchor point at top and they don't let people simply tie one end of the top rope to their haul loop and rethread before lowering because it can cause wear on their ropes (though shouldn't really if done properly...). So you need to lower off, then attach it to the end of your lead rope somehow before pulling it in order to get the toprope back in place. Prussik loop are ideal for this. It's not the only wall I've been to with this system...
 nutme 28 Jul 2016
In reply to tehmarks:

> If we're worrying about the tiny risk of accidentally clipping something to your gear loop indoors, how will we ever manage outdoors when we're carrying forty times the number of krabs!?

That's only if climbing ungeared route. Even on sport multipitch I normally have a dozen of draws, belay device and pas. Fits perfectly on both sides of harness with nothing behind.
 DancingOnRock 28 Jul 2016
In reply to ChrisH89:

That sounds very complicated.

Why can't you just climb up with the wall rope clipped to the back of your harness?
 neuromancer 28 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

Haha! Look at those people not doing exactly what I do! They must be trying to signal to everyone that they are better than me, so I'd better start a topic more beaten than the proverbial dead horse and pronounce my good sense!

For f*cks sake...
 GHawksworth 28 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

full rack! weight training innit.
 ChrisH89 28 Jul 2016
In reply to DancingOnRock:

Because it's against the rules at the centre.
 Brass Nipples 28 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

I like to carry several hexes and place them in the cracks.
Andy Gamisou 28 Jul 2016
In reply to ChrisH89:

> Local wall requires lead climbers to pull the top ropes down before leading. .......

Ah - the mist clears. I think York requires you to do something like this. Once got ticked off there for not doing it right.

 jkarran 28 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

None on mine. Couldn't care less what others do.
Jk
In reply to zimpara:

I recently saw a guy with a lowland outcrops guidebook dangling from his harness while climbing inside. It was in one of those guidebook carry cases. Had a good laugh at that.
 Andy Say 28 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

> What is the most amount of gear generally acceptable to find on a harness at an indoor wall? Often see prussiks, the odd spare belay device. Have seen gloves too... big chunky f*ckers, paired with a classic ATC.

Whatever you want to carry; you carry. So long as you are not creating a hazard for anyone else then just get it on.

Do you have real issues with prusiks (check spelling), gloves and ATC's?

>See the correlation?

No. Not in the slightest.


 springfall2008 28 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

I prefer to use my sports harness for indoors (rather than the trad one), so most likely it's empty apart from a belay device. When I only had one harness the cows tails and the prussik would stay on indoors.

You see a lot of odd things indoors, likely people climbing with their shoe laces undone or nut keys on their harness.
 DancingOnRock 28 Jul 2016
In reply to Andy Say:
> Whatever you want to carry; you carry. So long as you are not creating a hazard for anyone else then just get it on.

> Do you have real issues with prusiks (check spelling), gloves and ATC's?

> >See the correlation?

> No. Not in the slightest.

I think there is a certain type of person who walks around with tons of unnesecary gear hanging off their harness. The type that abseils really fast and then shows everyone how hot his ATC is.

Bit like those blokes you see with their keys on a chain. I mean I have 3 keys on my keyring. How many keys does someone need!
Post edited at 20:31
3
 Robert Durran 28 Jul 2016
In reply to Martin McKenna - Rockfax:

> I recently saw a guy with a lowland outcrops guidebook dangling from his harness while climbing inside.

I'm struggling to think of anywhere you might possibly want to carry Lowland Outcrops on your harness outside!
Bernard Shakey 28 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

Saw a floor walker / instructor at a well know Northern wall with a traxion, 2 pulleys, shunt, hand jammer, a krab stuffed with prussiks and of course a gri gri ! we were trying to work out what possible scenario would require all that at an indoor wall
 planetmarshall 28 Jul 2016
In reply to Bernard Shakey:

> Saw a floor walker / instructor at a well know Northern wall with a traxion, 2 pulleys, shunt, hand jammer, a krab stuffed with prussiks and of course a gri gri ! we were trying to work out what possible scenario would require all that at an indoor wall

Route setting?
 Robert Durran 28 Jul 2016
In reply to Bernard Shakey:

> Saw a floor walker / instructor at a well know Northern wall with a traxion, 2 pulleys, shunt, hand jammer, a krab stuffed with prussiks and of course a gri gri ! we were trying to work out what possible scenario would require all that at an indoor wall

I set off up a single pitch route today carrying 13 cams and more than 40 wires yet I cannot imagine ever needing all of them on any one pitch.........
1
Removed User 28 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

I always carry a chalk bag, a couple of toothbrushes and several different sized skyhooks from the back loop. On the left I think a couple of beer towels, a brush, a blow torch and a small crowbar are essential, and on the right I carry a conspicuously well used Chouinard (note, not BD) hammer and a bunch of pegs plus a hand-drill, a couple of bolts and a satellite phone. If I'm leading a route I always have an extra cord attached to a haul bag which is stuffed to the gunwales with pornography and a portaledge. I would never ever wear any trad gear at the wall though, that would look ridiculous.

All this stuff can be left on the ground at bouldering walls where only a base-parachute is worn.
 jsmcfarland 28 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

I'll my hand up and confess to being one of those tw*ts that instantly judges people as punters if I see they loads of crap hanging off their harnesses. I just can't help it. Apart from a quickdraw to clip in direct to a bolt while scrubbing the route or having a long rest (to let your partner relax a little) I don't see the need to carry anything else while actually climbing. I see people with prussiks, lengths of tat, multiple slings, even daisy chains running from the front to back of harnesses, etc.

Throw your dislikes at me, I deserve them!
 deacondeacon 29 Jul 2016
In reply to jsmcfarland:


Your profile is a picture of you:
Bouldering on a hot day-punter
bouldering in a harness-punter
Chalk bag clipped to harness with a karabiner-punter
Useless sling over your shoulder-punter

Greenhouses and stones come to mind

 bouldery bits 29 Jul 2016
In reply to deacondeacon:

> Your profile is a picture of you:

> Bouldering on a hot day-punter

> bouldering in a harness-punter

> Chalk bag clipped to harness with a karabiner-punter

> Useless sling over your shoulder-punter

> Greenhouses and stones come to mind
https://mobile.twitter.com/punterwatchuk
 jsmcfarland 29 Jul 2016
In reply to deacondeacon:

Ha ha. Nice one =) I got around to getting myself a chalkbag belt. Still far less useless than a prussik cord indoors, surely
Andy Gamisou 29 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

Having had my mobile phone half inched from a well-known climbing wall, I'm inclined to stick that on my harness too. Top tip - if someone sticks their gear 'unusually' close to yours, for no apparent reason, be suspicious.
 Tricky Dicky 29 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

I climb with a small bag containing car keys, money & mobile attached to my harness. Please feel free to point and laugh
 Lemony 29 Jul 2016
In reply to Willi Crater:

> Top tip - if someone sticks their gear 'unusually' close to yours, for no apparent reason, be suspicious.

They could at least buy you dinner first.
Andy Gamisou 29 Jul 2016
In reply to Lemony:

> They could at least buy you dinner first.

A big Mac would have covered the cost of the phone (which wasn't the newest or shiniest) but of course the general inconvenience in terms of cancelling then reinstating plans..... The third time thieving climbers have knicked stuff from me. Don't be surprised to see a short, tubby, middle-aged punter dragging a 15 year old Vauxhall Astra up lines at certain walls in the Sheffield area.
 Brass Nipples 29 Jul 2016
In reply to zimpara:

Just added my daisy chains and aid gear to get some practice in at local wall.


New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...